The study focused on the unicellular red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae and researchers demonstrated that starch content could be dramatically increased in C. merolae through inactivation of TOR (target of rapamycin), a protein kinase1 known to play an important role in cell growth. They observed a notable increase in the level of starch 12 hours after inactivation of TOR through exposure to rapamycin, and this led to a remarkable ten-fold increase after 48 hours. Compared with the control, inactivation of TOR resulted in an approximately ten-fold increase in starch content in C. merolae after 48 hours.

Importantly, the study details a mechanism underlying this profound increase in starch content. The mechanism will be of immense interest to a wide range of industries seeking to scale up biofuel and value-added biochemicals production.